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Eye Care Practitioner of the Year Ingryd Vargas-Lorenzana, O.D., on the red carpet before attending the award banquet at Paramount Studios.

The latest breakout hit in theaters: a public awareness campaign about 3-D viewing.
An innovative, award-winning pilot program in Chicago is educating moviegoers about how vision problems may hinder their enjoyment of 3-D movies. It’s also helping them find corrective treatment from nearby optometrists.

“Offering the Finest Digital 3D Experience” was developed jointly by the West Chicago Optometric Society (WCOS) and the Windy City’s Classic Cinema theater chain.
Although only six months old, the campaign already picked up one of three special Outstanding Achievement awards during the International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society’s (I3DS) 2013 3D Technology Awards ceremony, held Sept. 18 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.

“The international 3-D entertainment industry and the eye care professions share a common goal in addressing binocular vision problems,” said WCOS President Steve Butzon, O.D. “This prestigious honor shows once again that the developers of 3-D technology recognize the important role eye care professionals play in the development of this exciting field.” Read the rest of this entry ?

Recognized during the recent annual meeting of the Illinois Optometric Association (IOA) for their leading roles in the “Offering the Finest Digital 3D Experience” program were, from left, Steve Butzon, O.D., president of Chicago’s West Suburban Optometric Society (WSOS), Classic Cinemas owner Willis Johnson, Ingryd H. Vargas-Lorenzana, O.D., and Floyd Mizener, O.D.

After learning of efforts by the AOA and the 3D@Home Consortium to increase awareness of binocular vision problems in the home environment, Floyd Mizener, O.D., a retired Chicago optometrist, began looking for ways to increase awareness of 3-D vision problems among movie theatre audiences.

After consulting with the AOA for details of its program, he began contacting local cinema owners in his hometown.

He even invited Dr. Mizener to help him and Michelle Krueger, a respected Chicago graphic artist, design them.

During the meeting, the theatre owner was surprised to find the artist suffered from the very 3-D vision problems that would be described in the poster – and, as a result, had an outright disdain for 3-D movies. Read the rest of this entry ?

A United Nations agency charged with promoting and protecting intellectual property proposed an international treaty to improve access to published works for the visually impaired. Read the rest of this entry ?

Increasing patching from two to six hours a day effectively treats persistent amblyopia, according to a study from the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigators Group (PEDIG). The study was published in Ophthalmology (available as a paid download at http://bit.ly/19ygIKJ). Read the rest of this entry ?

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires health care practitioners to protect the privacy and security of patient information. However, practitioners may be called on to release protected health information to public health, public safety, or law enforcement officials under specified emergency response situations, according to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). Read the rest of this entry ?

The National Eye Institute (NEI) announced funding opportunities for two new high-priority research areas under its Audacious Goals Initiative to support advanced eye care-related science. Read the rest of this entry ?

Colombia is the first country in the world to eradicate onchocerciasis, commonly known as “river blindness,” by distributing an anti-parasitic drug in affected parts of the nation and educating local communities, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Read the rest of this entry ?

U.S. Senate Leader Introduces AOA-Backed NHSC Optometric Inclusion Bill With backing from the AOA and the Arkansas Optometric Association, United States Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) yesterday introduced into the U.S. Senate the National Health Service Corps Improvement Act – an … Continue reading →